Vedic Vision of Consciousness And YogaVedic Vision of Consciousness And YogaDiscusses and gives practical hints on the foundation of Yoga for students and teachers as well disseminates Vedic knowledge.
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Vedic Symbolism -- Ghrta (Clarified Butter)
2007-11-24 16:43:00 Ghrta is clarified butter. Since cow was in abundance in the Vedic age, there was also abundance of ghŗta. As such, it was a matter of great use in life. It was used in sacrifices as well as was an important ingredient of food. Consequently it has found a significant place in the Vedas.Ghŗta was used during the Vedic period as well as throughout the whole history of India as a delicious and extremely nourishing food content is evident from the heavenly damsel Urvaśī’s statement in the Ŗgveda that she took a lump of ghŗta only once a day and on the strength of it moved around fully contented even after four years of departure from Pururavas. (Ŗgveda X.95.16 )As the Vedic seer was in the quest of the essence of things, he did not permit the product of milk stop at the stage of butter. He saw to it that the butter could be made rather durable. With this end in view, he clarified it and thus could produce ghŗta, which is durable and can assume two forms, solid and liquid witho... More About: Symbolism , Butter , Clar
Hinduism and Environment Conservation
2007-11-23 14:43:00 In the struggle to sustain the earth's environment for the future generations, environmental studies have so far left unexplored the role of religion. But the human ecology is deeply conditioned by religious beliefs about our nature and destiny. Religious views and practices mould our attitude towards the relations with material life as well as help us to reappraise our ways apart from reorienting ourselves towards the resources of life.If we examine the ecological underpinning & implications of Hinduism both in principal and practice, it would be a new field of study in religion. From the Rigveda to Bhagavadgita and the Ramayana to Gandhian ideals and contemporary issues from forest in the epic to sacred rivers Yamuna, Ganga and Narmada – Hinduism and ecology offers a wealth of perceptions on the way in which Hinduism and ecological issues are enmeshed.Hinduism can be given a legitimate -- `Sanatandharma' which means `the eternal essence of life'. This essence of life is n... More About: Environment , Conservation , Envi
About the Author -- Pankaj Rastogi
2007-11-23 14:34:00 Pankaj Rastogi is an Officer in the Indian Council of Philosophical Research an autonomous body under Department of Higher Education, Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development and is currently Officer-in-charge of the Academic Centre of the Council in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He is also acted as the Media Coordinator during the major national level academic programmes organized by the Luckow office of the ICPR for which he received appreciation from academicians and the media.Interviewed famous personalities on TV such as Professor Kireet Joshi, internationally renowned Educationist , Philosopher ex-Chairman of Auroville Foundation and Indian Council of Philosophical Research; Yogacharya Swami Ramdev for Rashtriya Sahara daily newspaper, famous environmentalist Mr. Sunder Lal Bahuguna.He has presented many papers on old age problem, Indian philosophy, yoga and society at various national seminars organized by reputed universities.He has regularly appeared in Yout... More About: Author
17. Vedic Symbolism - Cow - V
2007-11-07 15:14:00 It is interesting to note that how the Upanişadic story of Satyakāma’s education by sage Haridrumata has a direct bearing on the highly symbolic mantra seen by Dīrghatamas .To remind ourselves of the main points of the story, Satyakāma, an initiate in Vedic education, was given the charge of four hundred cows by the teacher and was asked to take them to the pasture land, take due care of them and not return to the school until they became one thousand.Satyakāma does accordingly and when the cows reach the required number of one thousand, the bull from amongst the cows happens to initiate Satyakāma in the mystery of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality. Supposing Brahman as four-footed, he proposes to teach Satyakāma in one aspect of Brahman called prakāśavān and explains it as comprising the four directions, i.e., east, west, north and south as different aspects of that phase of Brahman. After teaching so much, the bull directs Satyakāma to proceed on his return journey where ... More About: Symbolism
16. Vedic Symbolism - Cow - IV
2007-11-07 13:48:00 The association of cow with Vāk starting from casual similitude and developing along the line of equivalence reaches its complete stage of symbolical identification and substitution at a number of places in the Veda to such an extent as to create the misunderstanding in the mind of scholars that the accounts of cow in the mantras are just matter-of-fact reporting of the then cultural scenario which was dominated by the presence of this useful animal as also by the seer’s earnest desire to have as many of them as possible and be benefited by her products including milk.What a blunder and gross injustice has been committed by such scholars in this as well as several others, can be understood by the analysis of one relevant account presented in the form of three contiguous mantras seen by Dīrghatamas.In the first one of these mantras, the cow has been requested to eat crops to her full content so that the seer and his associates may become fulfilled. She is further prayed to keep o... More About: Symbolism
15. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - III
2007-11-07 11:10:00 Another mantra worth observing in this regard is seen by seer Vacya Prajāpati. In this mantra Soma is said to be adorned by cows by means of their milk. This milk, again in the same hemistich, is replaced by matibhih, meaning mantras. This shows the equivalence of cow and milk both with the mantra. In the second hemistich, again the Soma juice is described as vipra, kavi and delightful as the heaven, svarcanah, on account of its wisdom (Rigveda, IX.84.). Thus while cows and their milk get rendered into mantra, the Soma juice turns eventually into kavi and kāvya, which obviously bespeaks of the symbolical usage of these objects in the text.In a mantra seen by seer Gaya Plāta the symbolic use of cow with reference to mantra is clearer. In this mantra the seer prays to Maruts, Indra, Varuņa and Mitra to fill with substance the mantra, which they gave to him like the cow being filled with milk (Rigveda, X.64.12). Here the milk is equivalent to the substance of the mantra while the c... More About: Symbolism
14. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - II
2007-11-07 09:01:00 In one of the mantras of Viśvāmitra there is an account of one being who, immobile himself, carries on his back six loads while cows come close to him when he assumes the role of the most productive principle of creation and sustenance. His dynamics results in the birth of the three higher worlds. Out of these three also, two are hidden in mystery, the remaining one alone is tangible to us (Rigveda, III.56.2). The immobile being is obviously the Supreme Being who, in this instance, as well as in many other instances, is conceived as a mighty bull. It is out of Him that the creation has proceeded as His progeny. In view of the colossal massivity and variety of the created beings the procreator is conceived as most abundantly fertilising, varsistham.Being conceived as a bull, it was but necessary for Him to have cows as the medium of His act of procreation. In view of the diversity of the created beings, the medium of creation has been taken as many in the form of plurality of the c... More About: Symbolism
13. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - I
2007-11-07 07:09:00 Cow is one of the most commonplace spectacles of the Vedic age. She has been mentioned in thousands in the Samhitās as well as the Upanişads. Anywhere in the Ŗgveda if we read any set of ten mantras, we are sure to find reference to cow, as go, dhenu or aghnya or her product in the form of her calf, bull, ghŗta, etc. This shows unusual preoccupation of Vedic seers with the spectacle of cow.Now the question is whether these references to cow are just description of the actual preoccupation of the seer with their kine, grazing them, confining them to their dwelling places, milking them, rearing their calves, preparing other products out of the milk, etc., or it has been utilised to suggest to something higher than the bare physical spectacle.Writers on Veda in the modern times beginning with the advent of the Western scholars in the field have taken for granted the first alternative emphasising it to almost total relegation of the second alternative to the background.This conclusi... More About: Symbolism
12. Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism
2007-10-31 10:57:00 As is evident from the history of evolution, it has taken aeons to develop Life out of Matter on this earth itself. The process must have been gradual and extremely slow and yet each point in the upward movement getting materialised in a state of transformation from Matter into Life. So must be the case with the range from Mind to Supermind.Sri Aurobindo has delineated four distinct stages in the midst of the two. These he named as Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuition and Overmind. Vedic gods and goddesses, in his view, are assignable to one or the other of these stages or even to the sub-section of any one of them. The Ŗgvedic story of seer Dadhyan learning Madhu-Vidyā from Indra and imparting the same to the Aśvins with the horse’s head is illustrative of the point involved here.This significant role of gods and goddesses has been kept couched in a thick garb of symbols not discernible to the ordinary mind. It is as thick as the Nature herself, only letting it to be discern... More About: Symbolism , Contribution , Understanding
11. Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism
2007-10-30 20:24:00 Sri Aurobindo has taken care of almost all the aspects of Vedic symbolism including seers, metres, gods and goddesses. He indeed has put forth a symbolic system which has the potentiality of explaining comprehensively and homogeneously everything in the Veda. This system was evolved in course of his intensive yogic sādhanā resulting on the one hand in the making of his own philosophical system known as integral Vedanta and on the other in the formulation of his view of the Veda particularly the symbolism involved in it. While the crux of his philosophical system is embodied in his magnum opus, The Life Divine, his theory of Vedic symbolism is formulated in his Secret of the Veda, both these works were serialised in the Arya concurrently during the years 1914-20. To understand his theory of the symbolism, it is essential to have some idea of his philosophical system which in itself seems to have been formulated as much by his understanding of the Veda from within its symbolic syste... More About: Symbolism , Contribution , Understanding
Introduction to Professor Kireet Joshi
2007-10-30 19:32:00 ( I am happy to inform my readers that Professor Kireet Joshi one of the greatest educationists, philosophers and yoga expert has kindly given his consent to contribute his articles and works on this blog, which will not only further enrich this blog in matters of yoga, philosophy but also benefit readers.)Kireet Joshi (born on 10th August, 1931) studied Philosophy and Law in Bombay University. In 1953, he was awarded gold medal and Vedanta prize for having stood 1st class 1st at the M.A. examination. In 1955, he was selected for the IAS and posted as Assistant Collector of Surat in 1956 but resigned in the same year to devote his life to the study and practice of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga at Pondicherry. He was responsible for the establishment of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Educational Research at Auroville.In 1976, the-then Prime Minister of India, Late Smt. Indira Gandhi requested him to advise the Government of India, particularly, to impart dimension of value-education ... More About: Introduction , Fess
10. Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism
2007-10-12 19:23:00 Vedic symbols are to be interpreted not in isolation but in relationship to each other. This is one of the basic propositions of Sri Aurobindo in course of his discussion on Angirasa. Working of this formula is to be seen in the sequel in regard to the same Angirasa legend with a view to determine the particular sense or system of ideas it might have been intended to communicate, as per Sri Aurobindo’s explanation.Sri Aurobindo starts his deliberation on this legend with the cognisance of the fact that Angirasas occur in the Veda as seers, Fathers and gods all at the same time. In Ŗgveda V.11.6, for instance, Angirasas are said to have discovered Agni from within the forests and at the same time Agni itself has been addressed as Angiras, the son of force arising out of churning and becoming a force by itself (Rigveda, V.11.6.). It is significant to note that in the same mantra the Angirasas have been taken both as seers and god Agni.In another mantra they are described as the son... More About: Symbolism , Contribution , Understanding
9. Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism -
2007-10-09 20:15:00 Sri Aurobindo provided us with the clue to the understanding of Vedic accounts in general as centring around the gods like Agni, Indra, Soma, Aśvins, Mitra, Varuņa and Bŗhaspati, and goddesses like Sarasvatī and Uşas as also objects like cow, horse, gold, water and light, and he proceeds further to explain certain legends germane to the Vedic thought involving the interaction of almost all the above mentioned forces and objects together and therefore potent enough to show the working of the meanings assigned to each one of these agencies and objects together synthetically. Most prominent among them, in Sri Aurobindo’s view, is Angiras. As such, he deals with it at length.The legend of Angiras involves the working of several gods and goddesses such as Indra, Brhaspati, Aśvins, Soma, Vāyu, Agni, Pūşan, Uşas and Sarasvatī. The basic problem ith legend is the confinement of cows by some adversaries in a certain cave. The names of those who have kept confined the cows are V... More About: Symbolism , Contribution , Understanding
8.Sri Aurobindo’s Contribution to the Understanding of Vedic Symbolism -
2007-10-07 15:58:00 After the Upanişads and Yāska, Sri Aurobindo is the most revealing light on the symbolism used in the Veda. There is a colossal difference not only of time from the Upanişads and Yāska to Sri Aurobindo. As regards the Upanişads, they came immediately after the Vedic Samhitās but for the intervention of the Brāhmaņas and the Āraņyakas and in certain cases without any such intervention at all. As such, they were most intimate to the spirit of the seers. The students who came to the Upanişadic sages for higher knowledge were well versed in the Vedas. Under these circumstances, the Upanişadic sage had only to hand over to them the key to this citadel of knowledge in the form of precise hints and suggestions and the whole thing became obvious to the student already fully charged with inquisitiveness.More or less, the same conditions prevailed during the age of Yāska. No doubt, a considerable course of time had passed and consequently the Vedic words, phrases and idioms were ... More About: Symbolism , Contribution , Understanding
7. Sri Aruobindo’s Theory of Vedic Interpretation
2007-10-06 19:20:00 Sri Aurobindo’s acquaintance with the Veda proved to be a remarkable incident in the history of Indian thought as well as in his own life. It is an incident of discovery of eternal life and inestimable amount of vitality from within the greatest literature of the world which virtually had begun to be treated as a dead mound containing completely fossilised ideas of bygone ages. It is an incident of re-enlivening what was supposed to be merely a historical record, into a perpetual psychology. To put the circumstances of this incident in Sri Aurobindo’s own words”:“My first contact with Vedic thought came indirectly while pursuing certain lines of self-development in the way of Indian Yoga which, without my knowing it, were spontaneously converging towards the ancient and now unfrequented paths followed by our forefathers. At this time there began to arise in my mind an arrangement of symbolic names attached to certain psychological experiences which had begun to regularise th... More About: Theory , Interpretation , Theo
Tracts on Aditi (Creatrix)
2007-10-02 13:55:00 The infinity of consciousness tending to creation becomes finite and individualistic. It becomes individualistic by virtue of having become self-centric while finite on account of identifying itself with whatever it projects itself on.This hrdaya of Consciousness is treated as feminine on account of being creative, that is why She is called the Creatrix or Aditi in the Vedas. She is eternally constant in her original status yet successive in her creative movement.In the form of expansion, emanation etc., from the earth up to the stage of self-realisation, the creative movement is meant for her self-expression both in the form of action and its consciousness.The self-expression of her is mystifying as well as revelatory of her.Her mysteriousness is maintained by the golden light around her real nature lying in transcendence of all as well as in the inmost being of all.The universe unfolds forth into being and continues in existence as per her wishes to remain self-expressed and is wi... More About: Tracts , Trix
6. Lights on Vedic Symbolism Shed by the Upanisads
2007-09-30 13:02:00 Discussion on Yāska’s cognisance of Vedic symbolism ultimately converged on the relationship between adhibhuta, adhidaiva and adhyatma. We also saw how the idea of unity among these three levels of the reality was envisioned by Vedic seers themselves particularly Dirghatamas. This tradition was carried on by the Brāhmaņas so much so, as to have led Yāska to formulate so decisively his theory of Vedic interpretation concurrently on these three levels. Since the Upanişads occupy a place intermediate to the Brāhmaņas and Yāska historically, it would be worth looking into them and see if they provide us with any further clue in this regard.The problem with which we are going to look into the Upanişads is the relationship between ādhibhautika, ādhidaivika and ādhyātmika. From this viewpoint, the beginning of the second chapter of the Brhadāraņyaka Upanişad is interesting. It is in the form of a dialogue between Gārgya, a Brahmin scholar, and Ajātaśatru, the famous Ki... More About: Symbolism , Lights
5. Yaska’s Cognisance of Symbolic Usages in the Veda -IV
2007-09-28 12:36:00 Rgveda X.71.5 speaks of a person who has taken milk in good quantity and stands unrivalled in contests. On the contrary, the other person moves along with what are cows just in appearance, listening to words which are bereft of fruits and flowers (Rigveda .X.71.5). Obviously this mantra tells us of cow, milk, cowherd, taking of milk in good quantity and facing contests boldly and successfully. In the second place in prominence, it makes a passing reference to a situation of fruitlessness and flowerlessness of speech. The details embodied in the mantra are mutually incongruent if taken at the face value, since cow has nothing to do with language and the latter with flowers and fruits. Were this mantra to have been taken in isolation, it would have implied keeping cows well if one wanted to get milk from her, fare well in physical contests and reaping fruits from trees if maintained well. However, presence of the word vācam puts a break to such a an interpretation. Taking cognisance ... More About: Veda , Ages
4. Yaska’s Cognisance of Symbolic Usages in the Veda - III
2007-09-27 14:20:00 Yaska’s interpretation of Ŗgveda I.164.15 discussed earlier in terms of relationship between sense organs and mind on the one hand and mind and Atman on the other, opens a new vista for the understanding of the group of seven mantras following it in the same hymn and exercising the mind of scholars since long without any acceptable solution coming forth. The mantra talks of seven things out of which six are sense organs and the seventh is manas. Sense organs are said to be found in twins. Thus, there must be only three sense organs meant here which somehow bear the spectacle of being in twins. They are eyes, ears and nose and undoubtedly are the most prominent amongst the sense organs in regard to knowledge of the external world and their formation in twins itself indicates to their prominence in the scheme of Nature.Their common duality played an important role in the eye of the seer in putting them together. The variation of five, six and seven in the number of sense organs is ... More About: Veda , Ages
3. Yaska’s Cognisance of Symbolic Usages in the Veda - II
2007-09-25 09:10:00 One of the spheres in which Yaska has displayed his awareness of the Vedic symbolism prominently concerns the relationship of our central being with our sense organs. There is a mantra in the Vajasaneyi Samhita which speaks of seven seers appointed at different strategic spots in the body and guarding it with full care in the waking state but withdrawing to the world of sleep being relieved of their tiring duty by a couple of gods keeping awake and sitting constantly for the whole year (VS. XXXIV.55). This mantra also talks of seers working as watchmen, retiring to sleep after their duty is over and being substituted by a set of two gods who remain sitting awake throughout the whole year unlike the seven seers whose duty is confined only to the daily sacrifice. Now the points of incongruence in this mantra lie in so dignified persons as seers serving as watchmen of the body considered as the sacrificial ground and their substitution by still more dignified personalities like the god... More About: Veda , Ages
2. Yaska’s Cognisance of Symbolic Usages in the Veda - I
2007-09-24 12:20:00 Yaska is the leading light on the Veda . As is evident from Sayana’s commentary, it is Yaska who has formed the backbone of his Vedic interpretation to a great extent. On whatsoever mantras Yaska’s commentary is available, Sayana quotes it invariably in the midst of his own commentary on those mantras without showing any disagreement with him. Even then, however, if Sayana develops a viewpoint about Veda, which is markedly different from Yaska’s, it is particularly due to Yaska having commented on the mantras only selectively. Had he commented as extensively as Sayana, the latter would not have dared to transgress him on the rest of the mantras also.The validity of Yaska’s views on the Veda lies in his relative closeness to the Vedic age, though by his time it had become considerably antiquated and difficult to understand, so much as to make Kautsa, one of his contemporaries, pronounce outright the meaninglessness of this classic.Moreover, Yaska’s understanding of the Veda ... More About: Ages
1. Necessity of Symbolic Approach to the Veda
2007-09-23 11:49:00 During the last couple of centuries the Veda s have been subjected to most rigorous sort of study possible undertaken by a band of Western scholars including Colebrook, Bernauf, Rudolf Roth, Max Muller, Waber, Oufrecht, Stevenson, Haug, Hillebrandt, Wilson, Ludwig, Griffith, Oldenberg, Eggling, Macdonell, Keith, Caland, Whitney, Wacker Nagel, Arnold and Luois Renou. They discovered, preserved and deciphered a huge mass of manuscripts, edited them most punctiliously and translated a number of them pretty well. They prepared histories of Vedic literature, grammar of Vedic language as well as treatises on Vedic metres. The Veda was sought to be studied from several viewpoints including cultural, historical, sociological, economic, mythological and linguistic. Accomplishment of all this task well within just a century and half and that also by scholars hailing from distant lands and from an entirely different cultural milieu is indeed remarkable and obviously goes to the credit of their ...
About The Author -- Professor S.P. Singh
2007-09-21 09:59:00 Professor Satya Prakash Singh is renowned Vedic scholar. He is a Ph.D. of the Banaras Hindu University and D.Litt. of the Aligarh Muslim University. A former Chairman of the Department of Sanskrit and Dean, Faculty of Arts, Aligarh Muslim University, he is presently working as an Editorial Fellow in the Centre for Studies in Civilisations, New Delhi. He has also been Director of Dharam Hindu International Centre of Indic Research in Delhi and Director of Vedic Research Centre in New Delhi. He is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including Ganganath Jha Award of the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, Rajaji Literary Award of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Swami Pranavananda Best Book of the Year Award in Psychology, Banabhatta Puraskara of Sanskrit Academy, Uttar Pradesh, besides President of India’s Award of Scholar of Eminence. His publications include: 1. Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead on the Nature of God, 2. Sri Aurobindo, Jung and Vedic Yoga, 3. Upanisadic Symbolism, 4. Vedi... More About: Author , Fess
A CRITIQUE OF STEPHEN HAWKING’S VIEW OF THE ROLE OF GOD IN THE CREATION O
2007-09-19 06:43:00 When any discipline of knowledge reaches its zenith, it is quite likely to begin to talk of God. This is true, as the foregoing pages make out not only of Whitehead but also of many other scientists, the latest of them being Stephen Hawking, the celebrated author of the best seller, A Brief History of Time. Like Whitehead, he too comes conceptually in the lineage of Einstein. If Whitehead developed the philosophy of process out of Einstein’s theory of relativity, Stephen Hawking evolved his cosmology out of the same theory of relativity. And just as Whitehead struck on the idea of God speculatively while explaining the reality in terms of process, even so Stephen Hawking happened to refer to the idea of God particularly as a matter of protest against the guarded warning of Pope, while tracing the origin of the universe ultimately to the primeval incident known as the Big Bang. In course of attending a conference on cosmology organised by the Jesuits in the Vatican in 1981, and bei... More About: View , Role , Creation , Critique
Tract on Individual Consciousness (atman)
2007-09-18 21:16:00 Integral Consciousness working through the individual with the individual as its centre is known as individual consciousness. It is called atma on account of fluxes; when its rests in its purity, it is called paramatman.Buddhi, ahankara, manas and sense organs serve as the apparatus of its functioning. Knowledge of this consciousness remains confined to the modes of its psychic apparatus while its desires are normally linked with the pleasures of sense objects. Under their fascination, it wanders from one form of existence to another.Bondage is mainly due to lack of discernment between one’s real nature and the accretions settled on it.Pleasure is a manifestation of the innate blissfulness of the Self. The bliss gets diluted into pleasure due to the limitation of the senses acting as the channel of its manifestation. Feeling of outer pleasure comes from the objects of senses while inner pleasure comes from getting what one wants.Its desires are associated with the pleasures of sen... More About: Individual , Dual
Tract on Sex
2007-09-18 07:12:00 Desire for sex arouses commotion in the mind on account of its responsibility to carry onward the process of creation. It needs to be brought under constant awareness instead of being sought to be inhibited.Total inhibition of sex has been an impossibility even in the case of Vedic seers as per the testimony of Lopamudra, the wife of seer Agastya as well as of Cudala wife of Shikhidvaja. Lopamudra envisioned man as abounding in the desire for sex.At the time of sexual intercourse, there is brought about an excitement and the final delight that ensues at orgasm betoken the delight of Brahman. This delight is that of one’s own Self. It has not come from anything external.Man and woman are only an occasion for the manifestation of delight. Even in the absence of either of them, there is a flood of delight simply on account of memory in full measure of sexual pleasure in the form of kissing, embracing, pressing, etc. Thus it is evident that the delight is inherent within.It is the del...
Tract on Depression & Its Remedy
2007-09-17 16:29:00 Depression is an offshoot of desires remaining unfulfilled in spite of intense longing for them.Its remedy lies in the vital reverting to its root which is consciousness in all its immensity.On ascendancy of determination to this end, the sense of guilt, as the cause of depression becomes subsided.Meditation on the boundless consciousness incarnate conceived as aditi can redeem one of one’s depressive psychoses to its last trace.Vices like lust, anger, greed, perplexity, enmity, jealousy, etc. are hindrances in the restoration of the individual to his innate nature which is pure consciousness. Interiorisation of consciousness is the way to ascend its state of infinity. Restoration of oneself to the universal self through meditation, results in the dissolution of complexes, removal of depression and attainment of redemption. More About: Depression , Remedy
Tract on Buddhi And Manas
2007-09-17 14:39:00 When the individual consciousness faces objects, it throws its light on the latter. The light is reflected back by the object, giving rise to sensory image. Thus, it is the Consciousness itself which assumes the form of the object in one’s perception of it in the world outside.It is in distinction of the objects reflected in consciousness that there is formed the sense of “I”, making the Consciousness concentric and limited to it. Conversely, the sense of “I” itself may be taken as instrumental in the reflection and consequent formation of the image of the world outside. The sense of “I” is the seed of the idea of jiva created in the midst of the all-encompassing consciousness.Citta is really Cit, consciousness as such, carved out of the source through the operation of the sense of “I” known as ahankara.The same sense acts as manas while oscillating indecisively between alternatives. The factor of decisiveness in the “I” sense is known as buddhi.The “I” sen...
Tract on Satsang or Association with the Enlightened
2007-09-15 23:46:00 Company of the wise or enlightened helps in one’s quest for one’s fundamental nature as also in the mitigation of the psychological distress coming in the way of the quest.In yogic sadhana, it is much more useful than such practices as charity, austerity, pilgrimage and performance of religious rites on account of its direct bearing on that sadhana. One should strive to be in the company of the wise and enlightened, who has realised the truth and from whose heart darkness of ignorance has been dispelled.The aspirant needs to approach such an enlightened guide in a right and positive attitude of mind and heart so as to make best use of the contact with him. Approached thus, he is most likely to remove the doubt, like the sun dispelling the darkness. Satsang, however, needs to be followed by proper action as per the instruction of the wise lest it gets reduced to a sheer pastime. More About: Enlightened , Association
Tract on Brahmacharya
More articles from this author:2007-09-15 22:44:00 Brahmacarya is the process of making manas and prana tend towards Brahman, the Reality characterised by consciousness as well as existence and bliss. Instinct for sex has the potentiality of getting sublimated into the universal creativity.Brahmacarya is a pre-requisite of acquisition of real knowledge.Sheer abstention from the act of sex is no brahmacarya at all.Complete abstention from sex is also not possible without manas and prana getting associated with Consciousness. More About: Char , Mach 1, 2 |
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